Laguna Blanca School - 4125 Paloma Drive - Santa Barbara - California - 93110
Volume XX
Friday, November 22, 2013
www.thefourthestate.net
Issue 2
Visit and Interviews Result in New Head of School Appointment By STEPHEN MCCAFFERY On Nov. 12, the Board of Trustees announced that Mr. Rob Hereford will be Laguna Blanca’s new Head of School beginning July 1, 2014. Over 150 candidates for the permanent Head position were screened over the summer with guidance from consultants, Carney Sandoe & Associates. They presented 16 candidates for consideration by the Board Search Committee, who, after extensive interviews, narrowed the search down to two final candidates for the Head of School position: Robert S. Hereford and Randolph H. Watts, Jr. However, during the final processes of the search, Mr. Watts accepted a position at another school. Mr. Hereford, the remaining candidate, graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1989 with a B.A. in History and Philosophy. He then went on to earn his M.A. in History at the University of Georgia in 1992. After serving in several positions, which include History Instructor, Student Council Faculty Advisor, History Department Chair, Honor Council Faculty and Faculty Mentor at Episcopal High School in Bellaire, Texas, Mr. Hereford continued his studies at the Teachers College of Columbia University, earning M.A. in 2002 in Private School Leadership while also becoming a Klingenstein Fellow. Following his time at Episcopal High School, he served as the Upper School Principal at Metairie Park Country Day School, in LA, from 2003-2006 and has served as Upper School Head at Forth Worth Country Day School in Forth Worth, TX since 2006. Additionally, Mr.
Hereford participated in the National Association of Independent Schools/ E.E. Ford Fellowship for Aspiring Head program in 2004-2005 and the William Robertson Coe Fellowship program for history teachers at Stanford University in the summer of 1999. On Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, Mr. Hereford and his wife, Amanda, met faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni and the Board of Trustees for the first time. Mr. Hereford held a presentation open for parents and also met with a group of 10 Middle and Upper School students. Lastly, Mr. Hereford had a meeting with the faculty and staff. “The overwhelming feedback we received mirrored the Search Committee’s belief that, Rob is a ‘genuine’ school leader who believes in a collaborative leadership model. Words like ‘positive,’ ‘approachable’ and ‘articulate’ were used to describe him. His focus on students and his belief in building relationships across the community were highlights of the impression he made,” said Mr. Tom Pickett Chair of the Board of Trustees. “I thought Mr. Hereford was very nice and seemed extremely approachable. I feel he [will] do a great job as Head because of his enthusiasm and excitement for learning,” senior Grace Woolf, the leader of the Student Search Committee, said. “It’s important for students to have a say in hiring a new Head, because it gives us a chance to be engaged in the process, and it makes us feel part of the hiring decision.” Mr. Hereford said, “I can’t imagine a school that could be a better fit for me, Amanda, and our boys.”
PHOTOS: TARA BROUCSQUALT A MEETING OF MINDS: Parents Michael Keane and Curt Pickering along with Head of School Richard Marracino engage in a post-speech chat with author Tim O’Brien in Spaulding Auditorium while junior Mia Chavez and math teacher Isabela Santos wait to have their books signed.
Assembly Program Features Nationally Renowned Author By KELA JOHNSON In the late morning on Oct. 24, Spaulding Auditorium was buzzing with anticipation. Two hundred people, a mix of high school and middle school students, parents, and teachers, filled every available seat, including chairs lined in rows on the stage. All were awaiting the entrance of writer and Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien, the “major poet of post-Vietnam alienation” and the awardwinning author of eight books – including “The Things They Carried.” “It’s exactly what a serious writer wants,” O’Brien said about the Big Read in his Independent interview with Dr. Charles Donelan, Laguna Blanca’s English instructor. “Not just an internal conversation with yourself but to learn through writing about what other people think.” According to O’Brien, his interest in how others view his work contributed to his success as a writer.
“Part of what can drive people to success is craving the love of a parent,” O’Brien said. “Or the love of humanity in general.” According to O’Brien, “a man is what he yearns for,” and in his opening remarks, he explained why he has always yearned to write. In one very effective moment, he described his childhood struggle to be acknowledged by his alcoholic father. “I can see my dad sitting in my living room . . . he was reading a book. And in his eyes there was a look of happiness and delight and rapture that I never saw in my dad. And I remember . . . when I was eight or nine years old how much I wished I was that book.” O’Brien also described some unexpected effects of his writing, in particular a letter he received after publishing “The Things They Carried”. The letter was from a 26-year-old girl who had been meaning to write him since she was in high school and described
“how she had grown up in the household of a silent father.” After finding a box of Vietnam War relics in the basement, she discovered what caused his silence. “The girl takes AP English, and the book they are assigned to read is ‘The Things They Carried’” O’Brien said. “Her father picked it up and read a dozen pages and that night . . . he began talking.” This letter is a continual reminder of the importance of speaking about his experiences. “I made a vow in Vietnam that I was not going to stay silent,” O’Brien said. O’Brien considers the letter a highlight of his career as a writer, not only because he was able to elicit a response from a reader, but also because he was able to make a positive impact on the life of a veteran. Although conveying his experiences through writing has been a cathartic experience, some
subjects, such as forgiveness and erasure, are still sensitive. When asked if it is possible to forgive without forgetting, he said that going to war is like “being dipped in crank-case oil; it’s inside your stomach and in your bones, and it’s always there.” The atrocities he witnessed make it difficult to forgive the people who committed them. Though it may be easier to substitute a “heroic narrative” for a horrific aspect of reality, Tim O’Brien refuses to forget.
Senior Attends Global Leadership Conference By CATY LAFITTE
PHOTO: CAROLE HARDER
Senior Andrew Vignolo (second from right) standing with other Global Leadership Connection Youth Leaders and a member of the Armed Forces at the Pentagon. Homecoming Photos from the Pep Rally, Jogathon, and Homecoming games. Page 2
An Artist’s Muse Ian Bankhead’s artwork. Page 5 Martin Adame A look into Laguna’s #1 fan. Page 5
Senior Andrew Vignolo was awarded the Male Youth Leader of the Year this past March at the Global Leadership Connection Conference that was held at Westmont College. Andrew, along with fellow Santa Barbara award winners, Bela Lafferty of Dos Pueblos High School, Anastasia Kunz of San Marcos High School and Brock Dickey of Santa Ynez High School, received an all-expense paid trip to the GLC Leadership Experience in Washington, D.C. that took place from Oct. 25 to Oct. 29.
Random Student Profile Carys Davies Page 5
The trip was chaperoned by GLC Executive Director and founder, Carole Harder and her niece, Kim Johnson. Twenty students from Los Angeles; San Diego; St. Louis, Missouri; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Atlanta, Georgia and Topeka, Kansas were also invited to attend the Leadership Experience. On the first day, the group took tours of the Eisenhower Building, the White House, the Holocaust Museum and the Museum of Natural History. Continued on Page 4
All About Sleep Myths about sleep debunked. Pages 8 & 9
School Photo Debate Poll results on recent school photo event. Page 15
CIF Times 4 Varsity teams head into playoffs. Page 10
Celebrating the Holidays Thoughts for those special days in the months ahead. Page 16
Firearms The Justice System offers no closure. Page 6
Ask Emily Words of wisdom on life’s dilemmas. Page 13
Abercrombie Controversy surrounds an exclusionary brand. Page 7
Fall Fashion Trends Check out the newest fall trends. Page 15
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November 22, 2013
Homecoming
HOMECOMING ACTIVITIES: (Left to Right) Annabelle Sorensen and Bryn Jewett triumphant after running in the Jogathon, Pep Rally game with Middle, Upper and Lower School students, quarterback Stephen McCaffery during the Homecoming football game against Ojai Valley, Phoebe Madsen hugs a Lower School student, Owls on the defensive, Girls Varsity Volleyball team ready at the net against Thacher, Christian Fowler and Atty Roddick set the pace while doing laps, Emily Lafitte participates in face painting post-Jogathon activity, Mr. Ray Robitaille leads a group of fifth graders and Lower School students in the Rainbow Parachute activity, Travis Fristoe rocks with the Upper School Stage Band.
PHOTOS: CARSON SHEVITZ & TRISH MCHALE Roses to Dana Martin who donated $20 to each club that hosted a booth at the Jogathon... • 4125 Paloma Drive • Santa Barbara, CA 93110 • www.thefourthestate.net The Fourth Estate is a public forum for student expression. It is written and produced solely by the journalism students. It represents the voice of the students and covers topics, issues, and opinions of relevance to the Laguna Blanca School community. The Fourth Estate welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and be no longer than 400 words. Editors reserve the right to edit for length, clarity, and/or taste. Anonymous letters will not be published. The Fourth Estate publishes six issues per year with a senior insert in the last issue. We mail issues to subscribers and advertisers, and exchange papers with high school journalism classes across the country. The Fourth Estate accepts both print and online advertising in either black and white or color. Contact Trish McHale at tmchale@ lagunablanca.org for advertising and subscriptions. “Follow” us on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook. Visit our online paper for daily updates: www.thefourthestate.net.
Roses to the students who dressed up for spirit week...
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Caty Lafitte
OP/ED EDITOR
Roses to the four teams who made it to CIF...
Allison Lewis Towbes
NEWS EDITOR Kaylee Strachan
FEATURE EDITOR MacKenna Connor
A&E EDITOR Margaret Lazarovits
LIFESTYLE EDITOR Grace Woolf
SPORTS EDITOR Stephen MCCaffery
PHOTO EDITOR Carson Shevitz
GRAPHIC EDITORS Kela Johnson Luisa Cameron
BUSINESS MANAGER Bill Mortensen
Roses
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COPY EDITOR Kaylee Strachan Phillip Hicks Carson Shevitz
STAFF
Thorns to the messy eaters in the library... Thorns to the students who skipped Jogathon and let their fellow classmates down...
Thorns to colleges that require you to check an ethnicity box and to those who fake exaggerate ethnicity...
Jacqueline Berci Kimberly Crickette Harrison Kerdman Pierce O’Donnell Emily Powers Spenser Wyatt
Patricia McHale, MJE
Roses to the students who introduced themselves to the head of school candidates...
Thorns to the seniors who don’t show up and participate in school activities...
WEB EDITORS
FACULTY ADVISOR
Roses to Carson Shevitz who was Swoop at “Owls in Wonderland”...
Thorns
ART: KELA JOHNSON
The News
November 22, 2013
Interest in Independent Study Courses Increases
More students begin to take the opportunity to create a course of their own. By JACQUELINE BERCI At Laguna, Upper School students are given the opportunity to create a unique course and to study under the supervision of a teacher to learn about a specialized topic. This is known as an Independent or Directed Study. The student, with the help of a teacher he or she is paired up with one -on-one, designs the course that they want to take and the teacher helps them to plan and carry out the work for the course throughout the year. Essentially the teacher’s role in an independent study is to help the student explore their chosen topic. Students elect an independent study for a variety of reasons. Sophomore Phoebe Madsen had a scheduling issue and was unable to take the original classes she wanted, so she took this opportunity to create an independent study. “I have kind of been thinking that I want to be a doctor so I thought it would be great to try it out and learn about that,” Phoebe said. Phoebe now works with science teacher, Ms. Staci Richard, on an independent study focusing on medicine and specifically new technologies being developed related to scything and stem cells. “I think it is a special opportunity because it allows students to explore topics that they are really interested in or topics that might be career directions--it allows them to explore personal interests that we don’t necessarily have classes in,” said Ms. Richard. Seniors Allison Towbes and Margaret Lazarovits and junior Conner Warren, are
currently doing theatre independent studies with drama teacher, Ms. Kate Bergstrom. Allison’s focusing on gaining a better understanding of the theater business, Margaret’s focusing on direction and stage management and Conner’s focusing on set and lighting design. “Ms. Bergstrom is having me write a comparative essay on two actresses that I admire looking at their technique, background, and training. I am also working on monologues for my college auditions—this independent study gives me the opportunity to prepare for my college career without taking too much time out of my extracurricular activities,” Allison said. Independent studies also give students the opportunity to take courses that don’t fit in their schedule but they will still be doing the work for, therefore they still receive credit for the work they do for that class. For instance, students do independent studies for classes such as leadership and journalism. The opportunity to create an independent study is most relevant for seniors who take this chance to investigate a topic that they may want to study in college. Students in the past have done studies on such topics as diabetes research, public health and Japanese culture. “Something Laguna does in a very special way is the teacher student relationship; taking it to the extreme level of an independent study--the possibilities are endless,” said US head, Mr. Tyler Hodges.
PHOTO: FRITZ OLENBERGER
Thrill the World: Zombies Take On Charity By MARGARET LAZAROVITS Passers bye took note of grotesque zombies in odd costumes who lined State Street on Oct. 26. Right when you think you’re in a horror movie, they start to dance to none other than Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” About 250 funky zombies rose from the Courthouse Sunken Gardens, and synchronized with zombies all over the world dancing for various charities as part of the Thrill the World movement. In Santa Barbara, zombies danced to raise money for World Dance for Humanity and local Boys and Girls Clubs. In addition to the Courthouse performance, zombified flash-mobs took place around town. World Dance for Humanity began in 2011 with the simple goal of “low-cost exercise class that would bring together the best of world dance and music to get us in shape and in-
spired,” according to their website, worlddanceforhumanity.org. After rapid expansion, the organization donated $50,000 to grass roots projects in various African countries in 2012. Now, they are solely focused on Rwanda, providing “donations of goats and cows, education stipends and assistance in the development of small businesses,” while still spreading a love of dance and international music. This Thrill the World fundraiser benefitted World Dance for Humanity’s Rwanda Education Fund, which aids in providing the money necessary for education in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. All the money raised went directly to this charity and our Boys and Girls Clubs—not a dollar to overhead. Beyond the Sunken Gardens performance, various flash mobs around town also have
raised money, at locations like the downtown Apple Store, the De la Vina Trader Joe’s and even Michael Jackson’s own Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos. Zombies of all ages participated in this fundraiser—including Latin teacher Ms. Rose Steeber. She decided to join this year “because I saw them dancing in the courtyard last year and I thought it would be a lot of fun and I thought that it was a worthy cause.” The commitment was flexible because there were “about three to four practices a week all across Santa Barbara and you could pick and choose which one you want to go to and when you want to go,” said Ms. Steeber. So keep your eyes peeled next year around Halloween for zombies walking downtown. It’s mostly likely for charity.
Alumns Help to Celebrate the School’s 80th Birthday By KIMMY CRICKETTE Because of the School’s monumental 80th anniversary, this homecoming was eventful and exciting. The weekend kicked off with the Peter “Ace” Angeloff Golf Classic, held at Sandpiper Golf Club, in which students, faculty, and alums participated. The first-ever school-wide pep rally, planned by the Upper School leadership class, came next led by alum and librarian Mr. Blake Dorfman. The pep rally was the perfect start to the weekend’s festivities complete with a watermelon eating contest and games in which Upper School students were encouraged to play with Middle and Lower School students. On Saturday, Laguna hosted the Grand Class Luncheon, honoring all the members of its Grand Class–those who
graduated between 1937 and 1963. The Laguna Blanca 80th birthday party followed, after both football and volleyball wins for Laguna. The birthday party was a huge success, attracting many current families as well as alumni. Highlights of the event include a whopping 80 candles on the grand Rubik’s Cube cake. “The whimsical Rubik’s cube birthday cake was inspired by the event’s Totally Awesome at 80 theme. What a fun way to wish our school a Happy 80th Birthday,” Tara Broucqsault, Director of Communications said. “It was a wonderful community event as we welcomed back 300 people from our alumni community, including former faculty members Sue Burke, Harry
PHOTO: TARA BROUCQSAULT Members of the class of 1963 celebrating their 50-year reunion: (L) Lynda Schweitzer ’63, Elmore Smith ’63, Elena (Siff) Erenberg ’63
Sims, Richard Downey, Yates Satterlee and Jack Adams, to name a few. Tony Guntermann from the class of 1937 was the oldest alumnus in attendance. It was an extra exciting day for Elena Siff Erenberg from the class of 1963 who had not been back to campus since her graduation day fifty years ago.
We were also thrilled to see so many alumni with their young children in attendance. There was something for everyone— even the youngest of guests. Children enjoyed sweets and treats from a Candy Buffet created by alumna Holly Bishop Thrasher ’87, as well as the new Kids’ Zone which included arts and crafts, a
movie, and games on the field. Alumnus Ryan Emmons ’08 had his bottled Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water on hand to quench everyone’s thirst, and wine was provided by alumni vintners Fred Brander ’68, Dan Gainey ’81, and the Conway family,” said Marcy Jacobs, Director of Alumni Relations.
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What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
Kylan Tyng ~Sophomore
Morgan Gainey ~Junior
Bryn Jewett ~Junior
“For Thanksgiving I am staying at home and having dinner with my mom, dad, and brother in the Valley.”
“This Thanksgiving, I’m going to the East Coast to meet up with family members in New Hampshire.”
“I am going to the East Coast to visit colleges then stopping off at my grandparents for Thanksgiving dinner.”
Paul Chiment ~Faculty “I am going down to San Diego to spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, and sisters.” PHOTOS: CARSON SHEVITZ
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November 22, 2013
Actor and Author John Morello Returns by Popular Demand
The News
Rare Oarfish Wash Ashore on California Coasts By HARRISON KERDMAN
By ALLISON LEWIS TOWBES Students went to see comedian, actor and graphic novelist John Morello perform his one-man show, “Dirt,” at Laguna on Nov. 7 for the first time since 2010. “I’m not going to preach, teach, or lecture,” said Morello at the top of his performance. He performed the show at 7 p.m. for parents, many of whom said that their son or daughter came home and told them that they had to go. One parent thanked Morello after the performance for opening a conversation between her and her son. Morello, who was born in Detroit and raised in Boston, was a high school dropout before going on to receive a degree in Theatre Arts from Evangel University. He has been touring with his show, “Dirt,” for over six years. The play, which is a “one man show of characters,” is based around the experiences of several people in an unnamed town. The first character we meet is Jason: “that kid that you’re never quite sure what class he’s in.” It is with Jason that the audience travels to the town’s Youth Poetry Festival. There, Morello becomes the 86-year-old teacher introducing the poets, and Sharon, one of the students who recites her poem, “Hello, I Can’t Believe You Like Left Me Here.” The next poet, David “Pi” (who tells his story in a rehab group), recites his poem “Dirt”. Another character introduces herself: “My name is Melissa, and I’m a ghost.”
PHOTO: TARA BROUCQSAULT Melissa is a victim of bullying and date rape and goes to school with Pi and Jason. The final character in the show is known only as “Poppa,” Pi’s grandfather and a World War II veteran. It is Poppa who delivers the message: “your life is very important to me.” “I decided around 2001 to write a show that dealt with growing up, and, specifically, the characters I encountered and that shaped me. None of them are carbon copies because I love my friends and wouldn’t do that them,” said Morello. “I had never intended to make it for young people exclusively, nor did I plan on putting so much of my own testimony into the post show talk…It kind of happened that way, and some sad life events dictated it to happen.” Morello draws his inspiration from the loved ones he’s lost: “Losing my brothers made me want to do things in memory of them… And in the end that is what is so beautiful about art and theater, is that we can in some ways be gods. We have the power to give people and ideas eternal life, if you will. We can resurrect them and make them speak and live on in us.” Following his presentation, the audience rose to its feet and gave Morello a standing ovation. Many students were moved by the show: “He was really informative and en-
gaging,” said senior Hannah Nagy. “I liked how he was able to make a topic that was so intense tolerable and interesting to listen to,” said sophomore Dani Abrams. Other students, however, disagreed. “I thought he was really funny, until he started getting deep, then I was uncomfortable,” said a student who asked to remain anonymous. The senior class saw Morello perform “Dirt” in 2010 when he first visited Laguna Blanca. “I told you [this story] so that you could have compassion,” said Morello. “I would like students to take away a feeling that they are connected. It is a feeling that can get us through so many of the situations and struggles mentioned in the show. Drugs, Bullying, Depression…all those things can have a root in feeling disconnected and isolated. All those things can be alleviated and helped when people feel as though they matter. That their life matters. People need them and we all have the power to make a difference…. really my favorite part is the students. I’m sure your teachers would say the same too. It’s not the paperwork, the job, the money, the prestige of academia or whatever…It connecting with young people at a time which is one of the most critical times in our lives.”
There are many things that wash up on Catalina Island every day. They range from kelp to drift wood to plastic to an 18-foot fish. On Oct. 13, a researcher who was snorkeling discovered something unusual and quite rare –an 18-foot oarfish. Curiously enough, another oarfish washed up in Oceanside, San Diego later the same week. The oarfish is an extremely rare fish that lives in very deep waters, so scientists seldom see it and know next to nothing about it. This occurrence provided a once in a lifetime opportunity for scientists to study and expand the realm of knowledge about this rare fish. At first, scientists were unsure about why the two oarfish washed up; however, some speculate that the oarfish were most likely caught in a current that dragged them from their natural habitat. These habitats range from 3,000 feet deep to shallower waters, however, they were not adapted to living in the shallow water in which they ended up. They died shortly after. Recent discoveries, found after dissecting the fish, show the cause of death for the oarfish found in Catalina. Scientists discovered several large tapeworms and a spinyheaded worm embedded in the fish.
ART: KELA JOHNSON
Youth Leader of the Year Visits Washington, D.C. Continued from Page 1 Students saw the Arlington National Cemetery, Georgetown University, where they were able to meet with a former GLC award-winner Daria Etezadi ’13. The group toured the monuments later that night. On the third day, they were able to see Union Station and take a tour of the US Capitol Building, where they saw both the House of Representatives and the Senate. On their final day, the students got to take a tour of the Pentagon. “It was one big sightseeing adventure,” Andrew Vignolo said. Although the students mostly went on tours throughout the nation’s capital, one morning they also attended a lecture at a corporation called Shared Hope International.
This organization focuses on raising awareness and bringing and end to sex trafficking on a global level, including in the United States, founded by Linda Smith, a friend of Carole Harder.
“The experience was truly amazing. I loved every second of it and met some awesome people while touring our nation’s capital...” “It was cool because all of the tour guides we had, Carole somehow knew,” Andrew said. The students were able to tour nearly every monument and political building in Washington D.C., along with
meeting Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. “Although the trip was absolutely astounding, the best part for me was making the connections with all the people that I met on the trip, including our tour guides, because that is essentially what the GLC program is all about: making connections that I will maintain for a very very long time.” Eleven Laguna juniors participated in the first Global Leadership Connection seminar held in Santa Barbara at UCSB in 2009. At that conference, Austin Patrick was awarded Male Youth Leader of the Year and the McNult Family Scholarship Award. He received a $1,000 scholarship and won an
The oarfish found in Catalina was 18-feet long and took 15 people to carry it from its watery grave to shore, while the one found in Oceanside was 13.5 feet long. The oarfish can reach up to 50 feet in length. It is the longest known bony fish in the world. In addition to providing lots of research for scientists, this rarely seen fish has influenced folklore. Some folks think it is connected to the Loch Ness Monster, or that, upon seeing an oarfish an earthquake and tsunami may follow. “It is easy to see how earlier cultures might ascribe magical and fantastical explanation of them, especially if they are rarely seen,” science teacher Mr. Landon Neustadt said. In Japanese folklore, oarfish are known to be the harbingers of earthquakes and tsunamis. Twenty oarfish were found on Japanese beaches in 2011, shortly before the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated the island. Scientists wonder if this fish can sense the tremors of a coming natural disaster or if it is just a coincidence. Earlier this year, sea lions beached in record numbers, and another rare fish, Stejneger’s beaked whale, also washed ashore in mid-October. Does this mean that a massive earthquake or a tsunami is looming?
all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. At the 2011 GLC conference, Kai Gamble took the Male Youth Leader of the Year Award along with the scholarship and trip to Washington, D.C. In 2012, Daria Etezadi was selected as the Female Youth Leader of the Year along with the scholarship and trip to Washington, D.C.. “The experience was truly amazing. I loved every second of it and met some awesome people while touring our nation’s capitol. Carole and Kim were both awesome chaperones and made the trip even better than I hoped it to be. I can’t wait to go back to the conference this year and see who might become next year’s recipients,” Andrew said.
Correction from the October 25 issue: In the article “New Teachers Make Their Nests at Laguna”, Mrs. Sienna Kimbell was incorrectly referred to as Ms. Kimbell. While it was mentioned that she taught English in Taiwan for seven months, she actually taught all subjects in English and not English alone. She also directed special education programs in small charter schools in three counties over the past 10 years. Prior to that, she taught at Americorp in court and community schools. Mrs. Kimbell majored in Environmental Science at Cal Poly and earned her Level I and II Special Education Credential and her Masters in Special Education at Humboldt. She considers working with students who have diverse and unique needs to be her true calling.
Freshmen Reflect on Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” Contributed by students in Ms. Nordgaarden’s Elements of Writing Class
my shiny new shoes, trying not to look scared. My whole life seems to spill out on the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be. W. Bartholomew
Chunks of my own history flashed by... I saw a fiveyear-old boy in his first swimming meet, shivering on the starting block, terrified of belly-flopping instead of diving; I saw a 10-year-old child skating as fast as he could, trying to score against the defender, sliding on the ice, then taking the shot; I saw an 11-year-old kid leaving mom and home for the first time, ready to go away to camp, looking around, seeing unfamiliar faces, shaking in
Chunks of my own history flashed by... I saw a sevenyear-old girl wearing her rock-star sunglasses and running around singing Lizzie McGuire and Hannah Montana; I saw a 12-yearold girl as happy as can be playing soccer with her friends; I saw a 16-year-old kid working hard, stressing about the future, but still finding time to laugh with her friends. My whole life seems to spill out on the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever
been or ever wanted to be. S. Speirs Chunks of my own history flashed by... I saw a four-yearold watch her metallic silver and green balloon fly away into the night sky; I saw a six-year-old girl filing into the computer lab in Palm Springs, wearing a uniform during 90 degree temperatures; I saw a 13-year-old kid studying the course nervously before her round and putting pressure on herself to do well. My whole life seems to spill out on the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be. A. Bidwell Chunks of my own history flashed by... I saw a threeyear-old boy trying to pop a wheelie on a tricycle; I saw a
10-year-old child, sad that he didn’t make the soccer team his first year; I saw a 14year–old kid, face in the dirt after trying to do a new trick on his bike, realizing that the smallest errors can have big repercussions. My whole life seems to spill out on the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be. H. Farrell Chunks of my own history flashed by... I saw a fouryear-old girl in a blue hockey helmet, trotting a red quarter horse across a big green field; I saw a 12-year-old on stage, covered in cotton balls, dressed up as a cloud; I saw a 14-year-old kid accepting a character award at her Eighth Grade graduation.
My whole life seems to spill out on the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be. B. Bidwell Chunks of my own history flashed by... I saw a fouryear-old little ballerina with her hair up in a perfect bun, in a fluffy pink tutu, getting ready for her first recital; I saw a seven-year-old girl, ready for Halloween, dressed up as a cheerleader with pink pom poms; I saw a nine-yearold kid getting ready for her first horse show with her hair braided with ribbons at the end. My whole life seems to spill out on the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be. A. Zangrillo
Profile
November 22, 2013
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PHOTOS: DELPHINE ANAYA
Creating a Piece as Large as Life By MARGARET LAZAROVITS
U
sually one to have a hard time doing pieces that are “too big to fit in [his] pocket,” senior Ian Bankhead decided to “get over [his] fear of large artwork” once and for all in the grandest way possible. “The size makes you feel like you’re looking at a person, not a drawing,” said Ian. Originally assigned a large charcoal drawing by art teacher Ms. Delphine Anaya, Ian decided to go as large as life with his piece, depicting British violinist Nigel Kennedy. “He’s actually one of my favorite people… Although he is not traditional, he has been really successful in classical music as well as other genres, and has been performing with his own orchestra for years now,” said Ian. Part of the assignment was to draw a person performing an action, and Ian explains why he chose a musician.
“I have never drawn a musician before, but I admire musicians like most guys admire athletes, so I feel like I’ve got a connection with the subject.” Once he had chosen his subject, Ian began to create the piece. However, a piece as large as his has to be tackled in steps. “I did practice sketches of every difficult part of the piece, so I had them all worked out before I added them.” When he began to draw, Ian took artistic license and added his own touches to the “perfect photo” he found of Kennedy. However, this photo only showed Kennedy’s upper body, “so I made up the lower half. He was also playing an electric violin with no body in the photo, so I gave him a regular violin to make him look like a real street musician.” Beyond charcoal, Ian also used other pastels to add color. As for the choice of background, Ian explains why his piece is on brown paper instead of
white. “I used brown paper from the Middle School faculty room because this piece was originally meant to be practice for a final on white paper, but I ended up preferring this color as a background.” Going deeper into his piece, Ian describes its style as “precise, but it doesn’t look real, mostly because of the colors and the sketchy background.” Besides art, Ian has been taking violin and viola lessons for years, and has developed quite a talent for and love of classical music. How he depicts Kennedy in his piece is how he thinks classical music should be played. “I hope it helps a few people see the genre as a less formal and more accessible kind of music.” After two weeks, Ian’s piece is finally finished. For those who wish to view Ian’s piece, he mentioned that it has been in the student art gallery up at the Emmons Art Center and it is now in the main office.
Student Profile: Carys Davies By EMILY POWERS Random Student Profile: Students to be profiled are selected at random from a list that contains all the names of Upper School students.
PHOTO: CARSON SHEVITZ
“She’s such a sweet person.” -Justin Bollag Dream Trip: “I’d either go to Africa to visit the homes and orphanages to support Acres of Love, or go to Australia because I’ve always wanted to live there.” Activities During Spare Time: “I like to play volleyball, hang out with friends and go shopping.” Favorite Movie: “‘She’s the Man,’ it’s hilarious!” Dream Job: “Stay at home mom.” Spirit Animal: “Elephant, it is my favorite animal.” Favorite Subject: “English, I love to write essays!”
“Her maturity has been vital to our volleyball team’s success.” -Blake Dorfman
Groundskeeper Martin Adame Cultivates Relationships Around Campus By LUISA CAMERON He drives a green John Deer gator accompany working with nature. around the campus. He cheers loudly “Working with the Earth, working at all the football and volleyball games. with the soil, it’s my passion. Being in He shares a smile with everyone he Santa Barbara with the great weather passes. This is Martin Adame, who has is nice, too!” been one of Laguna Blanca’s multiWhen asked what the hardest talented groundskeepers for seven time of the year was to work in, years. Martin said, “The summer, because As a groundskeeper, Martin everything is growing. But the winter maintains the condition of the playing is also really hard because it’s so cold!” fields and the landscaped property Martin has nurtured a special on the Lower and Upper School relationship with each and every campuses. student at Laguna. “The fields have to be ready to play “I remember when Martin coached on,” he said, with a smile. my Middle-School soccer team,” Born in sophomore Mexico, Chandler “The best part about being Martin Aubrey said. groundskeeper is interacting moved “I’ve never felt to Santa good of with the kids and being outdoors. that Barbara a connection I’m friends with everyone!” when he was with a coach five years before.” -Martin Adame old. “Martin “I have keeps basically the fields lived in California all my life, and I extremely nice,” Quentin Tedesco love it.” senior Football Captain said, “and he Martin began his job as a cheers the loudest at all of our games.” groundskeeper when Doug Jessup was Faculty value Martin as much as the the school’s head of school. students. “The best part about being “He’s one of the kindest people groundskeeper is interacting with kids I know and his enthusiasm for our and being outdoors. I’m friends with school is truly appreciated,” Mr. everyone,” he laughed. Blake Dorfman, alumnus, coach and As a groundskeeper, Martin is librarian said. “His skills at keeping outside all day. But he does not the school beautiful are unmatched.” seem to mind difficult tasks and Martin, a huge sports fan, loves unpredictable weather conditions that to come to as many home games as
PHOTOS: CARSON SHEVITZ
possible. “I like every sport that is played at Laguna, but if I had to choose one, it would be volleyball.” Sophomore varsity volleyball player Danielle Abrams said that Martin is “one hundred percent devoted to our school. He puts in a huge effort to come to all of our games. Every time I see him, he says, ‘Hi!’” When asked what the best part about working at Laguna was, Martin wholeheartedly said: “Seeing the kids grow up. I love to see them go from Middle School to graduating senior year. That’s the great experience I’m having now.”
6
November 22, 2013
Opinion
Guns in the Home Threaten the Lives of Our Nation’s Most Innocent Citizens By ALLISON LEWIS TOWBES
I
t’s a sad truth: 9,000 Having a gun in the house children die in this greatly heightens (although it country each year. does not ensure) the chance of Suffocation, drowning, motor injury or death of a child. vehicle accidents–all of these Madenci and his colleagues contribute to the annual toll. collected data from 36 Disease, too, takes a number million children and pediatric of young lives. hospitals around the country About 500 of these deaths in order to assemble their are cause by injuries sustained data. The numbers jumped from a gunshot wound. dramatically during their Those 500 lives may seem research period, from 1997 to insignificant when looking 2009. at the big picture. Yet, each In an article from Oct. 27 and every one of those deaths for NBC News, journalist Bill were preventable, and that is Briggs compiled interviews what makes the number so from families that had staggering and unacceptable. experienced the dangers of Without each bullet wound, household gun ownership. without those guns in the “Among those victims may wrong hands, lives would have been 3 year-old Will never have been cut short. McAnaul, who died on July The number of children 21, 2009 in Dayton, Ohio,” dead each year because of said Briggs. McAnaul, “a firearms in this country is preschooler, had picked up his astounding, depressing, and father’s loaded weapon and incredibly embarrassing. shot himself in the face.” But, most importantly, it is Four years after her son’s changeable. death, Patcine McAnaul, The rate of in-hospital Will’s mother, spoke about deaths of adolescents and losing her son: “It’s not like children from gun wounds your child died of cancer, or has gone up over 60 percent, they died because of a drunk according to a study done by driver. This is a situation the American Academy of where people can point their Pediatrics (AAP). finger at you. Part of you can’t “[H]handguns account for blame them. And another the majority of childhood part of you is like, ‘That’s not gunshot fair. We’re wounds, amazing “All children have and this parents.’” a right to live and to number Mrs. dream and to strive appears McAnaul for a future that is not to be said that increasing although destroyed in a second over “[y]ou because we cowered the last can’t blame before a special interest someone for decade,” said the something lobby and refused to lead like that, protect them.” author someone -Marian Wright of the must be at Edelman study, Dr. fault.” Arin L. McAnaul Madenci. is right to “Further, states with higher feel that her situation is percentages of household different. Her son did not firearm ownership also tended die because of an illness or to have higher proportions of injury–something that was childhood gunshot wounds, beyond her and her husband’s especially those occurring in control. Will McAnaul is no the home,” said Madenci. longer alive because there was
a gun in his house within his in the report shows that reach. in one year (2010) five I clearly do not preach times as many children recreational gun use, or even were killed by guns as ownership. However, I cannot U.S. soldiers in Iraq and tell others to get rid of their Afghanistan, which just firearms. In fact, the Second goes to show the extent of Amendment forays me from this “epidemic.” doing so. “All children The number of There are have a right organizations children dead to live and to that provide each year because dream and information on to strive for a of firearms in gun control and future that is this country gun safety, such not destroyed as Common is astounding, in a second Sense about because we depressing, Kids and Guns, cowered and incredibly a group that before a is “dedicated embarrassing. And, special to providing most importantly, it interest lobby all adults with and refused to is changeable. the necessary protect them,” information to emphasized empower them to protect Edelman. their children.” In today’s world, where They provide specific the ongoing debate over instructions on how to deal gun control runs rampant with firearms in a house with throughout the country, it children, giving instructions is important to know about like, “unload it and lock it up,” the dangers that come with “lock ammunition separately,” owning a firearm. and “hide keys where children I am aware that many will can’t find them.” disagree with my opinion, These warnings, however but for those who invoke helpful, can only do so their Second Amendment much to ensure the safety of Rights without reading children within a household the fine print, take note: that contains guns. People kill people, but guns Another campaign that facilitate those deaths. is more oppositional to the Gun regulations, ownership of guns is the especially in households “We Can Do Better: Protect with children, will prevent Children Not Guns 2013” the unnecessary loss of campaign from the Children’s innocent lives nationwide. Defense Fund. And that, is the undeniable “As this report documents truth. with the most recent data For more information available, the toll of this about the “We Can Do gun violence epidemic is Better” campaign, visit devastating,” said Marian www.childrensdefense.org. Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund and author of the forward to the “Protect Kids Not Guns 2013.” The Children’s Defense Fund advocates the removal of all firearms from homes, asking for more concern over “the war at home.” Some of the data collected
When The Justice System Fails Us: Still No Closure for Larry King’s Loved Ones
H
e wore high heels and makeup to school. Some say that’s what got him killed. This innocent, kind-hearted, 15 year-old boy wore high heels and makeup to school, and somehow that meant he was asking to be shot in the back of the head, in a junior high school, by a 14 year-old classmate? He is dead because he wore high heels and makeup to school? In 2008, Brandon McInerney shot Larry King during class. King died in the hospital two days later on Feb. 14. McInerney, the “budding white supremacist,” brought the gun to school according to forensic psychologist and blogger Karen Franklin. Both King and McInerney were eighth-graders at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, CA – a little over 40 miles from Santa Barbara. At the time, King was living in a group home called Casa Pacifica. He had been openly gay since fourth grade, and was continuously bullied throughout grade school. At E.O. Green Junior High, King began wearing women’s clothes to school. Much of the administration opposed this behavior, but under California Law, they were unable to stop him. Teachers were asked by the principal, Sue Parsons, to make sure that other students were “being civil and nonjudgemental.”
“They don’t have to like it but they need to give him his space,” wrote Parsons in a e-mail to the faculty and staff of E.O. Green that was released to the public during the trial. Allegedly, King approached McInerney on the school’s basketball court a few days before the shooting, asking to be his Valentine. According to witnesses, McInerney was visibly upset, even asking his friends to assault King on the school property that day. A member of the administration broke up the ensuing fight. A day before the shooting, McInerney approached one of King’s friends and said: “Say goodbye to your friend Larry because you’re never going to see him again.” The next morning McInerneny walked into the computer lab and, after waiting for 20 minutes, pulled out a .22 caliber handgun. Brandon McInerney walked out, Larry King did not. Two days later, King died from the two gunshot wound to the back of the head. McInerney was apprehended soon after the shooting, and was put on trial in 2011. “The 2008 murder polarized the community of Oxnard. The chasm widened during the highly publicized trial three years later, when a pair of private defense attorneys managed
to turn the homicide into a reverse civil rights case for beleaguered heterosexuals and white people,” said Dr. Franklin on her blog, “In the News: Forensic Psychology, Criminology, and PsychologyLaw.” In December 2011, McInerney was sentenced to 21 years in prison, for seconddegree murder, manslaughter and use of a firearm. Even after finding evidence of McInerney’s ties to a local white supremacist group, the jury refused to charge him of a hate crime. The prosecution was stunned. “Prosecutors said the shooting in front of stunned classmates was first-degree murder and that McInerney should be punished as an adult. They argued the shooting was a hate crime, an aspect jurors rejected, after authorities found white supremacist materials in McInerney’s home,” reported on the CBS News Crimesider site. The defense was somehow able to convince over half of the jury of McInerney’s innocence under the idea that King had provoked his attacker by coming on to McInerney. After the trial, Karen McElhaney, a member of the jury, spoke to the public. “It was the high heels, the makeup, the behavior,” McElhaney said.
“He was solving a problem,” said another juror, who was among a group of women who wore “Justice for Brandon” bracelets. King, a transgendered middle-school student, deserved to die for expressing himself– at least according to the jurors. Five years after the shooting and two years after McInerney’s trial, a documentary called “Valentine Road” (2013) was released. Directed by Marta Cunningham, “Valentine Road,” (named for the place where Larry King is buried) illustrated King’s story, and the people who loved him most. I am ashamed to live in a world where intolerance is condoned. My heart goes out to Larry King’s friends and family, because they must watch as the justice system fails someone they love. Moreover, I feel sorry for the members of the jury. Are these men and women so narrowminded, that they can not comprehend the level of injustice? Or, are they just afraid, willing to avert their eyes because it is easier to ignore a hate crime than it is to confront it?
GRAPHIC: LUISA CAMERON
By ALLISON LEWIS TOWBES
Opinion
Breaking Out of the Application Checkbox
November 22, 2013
7
By MARGARET LAZAROVITS
T
ART: KELA JOHNSON
Staff Editorial: Where’s the Spirit?
T
he realization that the senior class has some of the least spirited people in the student body became made apparent on Oct. 19 when only about half of the class showed up to what would be their last Jogathon. The majority who didn’t show up simply left school, and felt that there was no need to come to one of their last school functions. Seniors should be the ones taking charge and encouraging other students to be excited about all the experiences
throughout high school. In other words, they should be role models. Nearly half of the senior class is checking out before they are even second-semester seniors, saying “Sayonara” to anything and everything having to do with the school that has brought them this far. It’s not like efforts to bring the senior class together haven’t been made—seniors have tried to plan many senior meetings, before the school year started, and during the year, in an effort to mesh at
least a little bit. Yet once again, that one half of the class doesn’t show up. If seniors don’t enhance the class’ overall school spirit now, they won’t have anything to look forward to when it comes time for class reunions. Although those seniors who choose to be separated completely from class functions or bonding experiences stick out like sore thumbs, those seniors who try to strengthen the senior class’ school spirit definitely do not go unnoticed.
They are the ones who stand out the most—always showing up at sports games, volunteering at school-wide events, and just having a positive attitude at school every day, no matter what the circumstance. These are the kinds of people we need to be leading the school as seniors—not an unenthusiastic group who are over high school before the second semester begins. Don’t be “too cool for school.” Show your spirit, you just might enjoy yourself.
Too Big to Fit the Ideal It’s not a rare problem, or even a new one. But when clothing stores dictate who can wear their brands, they forfeit their integrity in order to uphold flawed values.
“
In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. We go after the attractive allAmerican kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” In a 2006 interview with Salon Magazine, the comments above were made by Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch since 1984. When the comments were brought up again in May 2013 in a Business Insider interview with one author of “The New Rules of Retail,” Robin Lewis, Jeffries issued an apology for his remarks made seven years ago. “We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics,” he concluded. Abercrombie has a history of getting in trouble for racial discrimination amongst job applicants and employees, placing less “attractive” employees off the selling floor, making T-shirts that insulted Taylor Swift and portrayed offensive stereotypes, releasing adds that have been criticized for being too inappropriate for teens, and selling revealing, padded bikinis as part of their kids line. There has also been controversy over the fact that Abercrombie does not sell woman’s clothing over a size large or pants sizes over a 10. “We want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than
By JACQUELINE BERCI
that,” said Jeffries in the past. Two of Abercrombie’s biggest competitors, H&M and American Eagle, both carry all sizes of clothing; H&M has a plus-sized line and American Eagle offers up to size XXL. Abercrombie doesn’t carry plus-sizes because they think seeing girls who aren’t what society sees as the perfect image wearing their clothing will turn away their targeted audience—“the cool kids.” Abercrombie carries larger sizes in men’s for big guys who aren’t necessarily overweight. “In my opinion, [Jeffries] is basically saying that there is only one type of girl and we have to be perfect. I think this is wrong and makes girls feel bad about themselves,” said sophomore Valeria Rodriguez. Jeffries’ marketing philosophy is not only morally wrong because it makes girls who don’t look like Abercrombie models feel self-conscious about their appearances, but it’s also simply not accurate. I don’t agree that if someone who fits Jeffries’ idea of the perfect Abercrombie shopper sees a plus-sized shopper wearing Abercrombie, it’s going to turn them away from the brand. Cute clothes are cute clothes—who is wearing them shouldn’t turn people away from them. Abercrombie blatantly gets its idea that they want only society’s idea of beautiful people wearing their clothes by their models who appear on huge billboards and outside their store to take pictures. On the other hand, H&M advertised some of its 2013 summer swimsuits on a plussized model.
It’s hard to understand why the CEO of Abercrombie is telling people, “I really don’t care what anyone other than our target customer thinks.” He is turning more business away from his store. Instead of being concerned with the income of his company, Jeffries focuses on the image of his store. Abercrombie could be selling in all sizes and to a wider range of customers, making more money, but they don’t agree because they think that would decrease their sales instead. Nevertheless, it seems Abercrombie is wrong—the income of Abercrombie has been continually decreasing for the past five years. Similarly, Urban Outfitters, another teen apparel store, has gotten into trouble for countless reasons that seem obvious to most. Urban Outfitters has received criticism for selling products depicting pill bottleshapes, alcohol, marijuana symbols, cuss words, a sixpointed star badge resembling those of the Holocaust, clothes and accessories described as Navajo style, allegedly using another designer’s jewelry design as their own, “accidentally” making color options for a shirt “White/ Charcoal” and “Obama/ Black,” almost immediately taking back shirts supporting gay marriage after they were released, selling a shirt saying “Eat Less,” selling a shirt with a racy photo on it without the model’s permission, and more. Why stores whose target audience is teenagers can’t see how these derogatory
ART: KELA JOHNSON
here’s one section of every college application that seems to brand a label on students. Those little check boxes listing ethnicities, which attempt to summarize you in one word: White. African-American. Hispanic. Asian. Don’t let them. Most students feel the pressure to be diverse, so at which generation do we draw the line? Great-grandparents? Great-great grandparents? On the other hand, some students might feel pressure to be less diverse, fearing that their race will pin them against stereotypes. Within the last year, “the number of applicants who identify themselves as multiracial has mushroomed,” since students can now pick from a slew of new racial and ethnic boxes, according to the New York Times article, “On College Forms, a Question of Race, or Races, Can Perplex.” Some students are taking advantage of this. “You know kids are gaming the system every way they possibly can, from private counselors who write essays to massaging their statistics,” said Scott White, a college counselor in a New Jersey high school, quoted in the same Times article. Then there’s taking it to the extreme: at least four Rice applicants last spring checked every ethnicity box offered (“On College Forms”). Admissions counselors cannot be expected to fact check every applicant. However, they can offer a writing supplement that can see how strongly a student identifies with the race put down. “For example, in its customized supplement to the Common Application, Rice asks an essay question about ‘the unique life experiences and cultural traditions’ that a student might bring.” Two of those four applicants made it known to Rice in their essays that, beyond their blood, they fully embraced each ethnicity checked. Then there’s the other end of the spectrum. Instead of digging through family records to find that distant Native American relative, kids are hiding some parts of their prominent ethnicity. This method is widely seen among mixed-race kids with an Asian parent. “The whole Tiger Mom stereotype is grounded in truth,” said Tao Tao Holmes, a halfChinese, half-American Yale sophomore, quoted in USA Today’s article, “Some Asians’ college strategy: Don’t check ‘Asian’.” Born in Florida to a mother who immigrated from Taiwan and a father of Norwegian descent, Olmstead only checked one ethnicity box: white. She’s not alone. “An unknown number of students are responding to this concern by declining to identify themselves as Asian on their applications” because they are grouped with the other stereotypical Asians described by Holmes and Olmstead. But Harvard freshman Jodi Balfe felt the guilt of denying a part of herself to colleges and checked the “Asian” box, “against the advice of her high school guidance counselor, teachers and friends.” And that’s what really at stake here. Yourself. Colleges want to know you. Don’t let those boxes define who you are. You shouldn’t check them for a chance at a scholarship or leave them blank to save yourself from stereotypes. Be proud of your background, no matter how homogenous it may seem. And if you identify strongly with your heredity, however mixed and regardless of your name, it will show through on your application.
things might upset people is shocking. Why Mike Jeffries could not tell his statements saying his store aims to sell only to “cool kids” would receive criticism is more shocking. And the fact that if you go to an Abercrombie and Fitch store or online you still cannot purchase a size large in women’s clothing is sad. The store that was once for outdoors men has been transformed into a store of preppy teen clothing that hopes to send a message of exclusivity, popularity, and beauty.
Double
8
The Importa Seven Myths About Sleep By LUISA CAMERON
To do my best, I need to get eight hours of sleep. There is nothing magic about the number eight. Everyone functions differently after different amounts of sleep. Getting just one less hour of sleep per night won’t affect your daytime perkiness.
I can make up for lost sleep on the weekends.
Splurging on sleep over the weekend and not sleeping during the week can seriously mess up your sleep cycle. The body loves consistency: it’s better to get up and go to bed around the same time every day, even on weekends.
Exercising before bed will help me fall asleep. Exercise can be helpful for sleep, but sleep experts have warned people to avoid hard exercise right before bedtime. Exercising has an alerting, stimulating effect and raises your body temperature, making sleep harder to find.
If I don’t get enough sleep at night, then I’ll just nap during the day.
Sleep medications are designed for short-term sleep problems or chronic insomnia. If you can’t sleep one night, that doesn’t mean you need to take pills like Melatonin or ZzzQuil. It just means you have to work on your sleeping habits, such as going to bed earlier, avoiding TV or computer screens before bed, and staying away from caffeine. This type of therapy is as effective as prescription drugs.
I yawn because I am tired.
Yes Are you tired when you come to school?
sleep do y f o ou rs u ge ho ta
How
? gh t ni
ma ny
Yawning is usually thought of as a sign of fatigue, but the real cause of yawning is still unknown. A new theory states that yawning helps cool the brain down.
4-6
The consequences of getting less sleep per night could be fatal. Those who are sleepdeprived have much higher risk of mental and physical illness, from diabetes to depression.
I should take pills if I can’t sleep.
While naps are invigorating enough to get you through the day, they are not a permanent solution to sleep deprivation. If you really must nap, take one after 3 p.m. so as not to mess up your sleep cycle.
9-10
Lack of sleep may make me feel tired, but it doesn’t have a severe or long term effect on me.
7-9 US students participated in sleep polls in advisory
How Do You Sleep? By: EMILY POWERS
Fetus
You are shy and can come off as gruff, but you have a warm heart. This position can cause stress on the internal organs.
Soldier
You are reserved, introverted, and tend to have high expectations. This position supports the back and neck.
Freefaller
You are outgoing but secretly sensitive. You are also fantastic at parties! This position is good for digestion.
Starfish
You are a loyal friend and a good listener. This position supports the neck, back, and torso.
Log
You are easy going, laid back, but can be seen as too gullible. This position supports your spine and posture.
Yearner
You are openminded, rational, and a careful decision maker. This position can cause apnea. www.bettersleep.org
e Page
9
November 22, 2013
ance of Sleep The Risks of Sleep Loss By KAYLEE STRACHAN
Teens need at least nine hours of sleep to function properly
Obesity
Impaired judgment
Heart Memory attack
Being sleep deprived for 24 hours leaves you as impaired as a drunk driver
loss
Stroke
Sadness
Pessimism
Stress
Diabetes anger Injury
Heart Failure
ou
e
allen asle f r e ve
p
in
as cl s?
Ha ve y
No
no 44%
yes 56%
Sleep on It: Why Getting a Good Night’s Sleep is More Important Than You Think
E
ver since childhood, kids are told that getting enough sleep at night is one of the most important things they can do to perform well in school. But by high school, most students have disregarded this advice and stay up until the early morning doing homework. While they may consider it necessary, research shows that staying up this late actually hurts more than it helps. Studies have found that lack of sleep alters the way different parts of the brain behave and can lead to difficulty solving problems, making decisions, and forming new memories. However, lack of sleep affects procedural memory more severely than it does declarative memory.
By: BILL MORTENSEN
Procedural memory involves motor and perceptual skills, whereas declarative memory involves memorization of facts. So if you put off studying for a vocabulary test in English until two in the morning, then it would be best to stay up late and cram, but if you have a test about World War II and its effects, then it would be best to get a good night’s sleep. Scientists have found that there are three stages of creating and storing a memory: acquisition, in which the brain learns or experiences something new, consolidation, in which the memory becomes cemented in the brain, and recall, which is the ability to bring the memory to mind later. While acquisition and recall occur while a person is
conscious, sleep is necessary for consolidation to occur or else it will be much harder for the brain to recall or absorb new information. It is during sleep that memories are strengthened and cemented in the brain, so without sleep, memories remain in the same raw form that they were in when they were first formed. Researchers believe that during sleep, the brain sorts through recent memories and decides which memories to keep and which ones to disregard. In addition to helping consolidate memories, sleep is also important for priming the brain for learning the next day. During sleep, the brain goes through three main phases: light sleep, deep sleep, and
rapid eye-movement (REM). These phases are divided into non-REM and REM. It is during the non-REM phases of sleep that the brain is prepared for learning. Research shows that one’s ability to learn can drop by 40 percent without a good night’s sleep. So the next time you have a history test that you put off studying for, don’t pull an all-nighter, because the information won’t stick without sleep, and it will just end up hurting your grade.
GRAPHICS: LUISA CAMERON
10
Sports
November 22, 2013
Four Teams Soar into the CIF-SS Playoffs Setting records, snapping streaks and outrunning the competition, the No. 1 Girls Volleyball team, No. 7 Football team, Cross Country team, and the Girls Tennis doubles team of Lucie and Margaret Hartmann have all earned their way into the CIFSouthern Section Playoffs of Fall 2013.
Football
GRAPHIC: KELA JOHNSON
By SPENSER WYATT An undermanned unit has not stopped the Owls from soaring to unimaginable heights. After a disappointing 2-5 (0-4) season under first year coach Shane Lopes last season, the team of 17 rebounded with an impressive 5-3 (2-2) record and a CIF playoff birth. After notable underdog wins versus Coast Union and Villanova Prep, the Owls were poised for a run in the CIF playoffs. Their first round match up pitted the Owls against Pacific Lutheran, an 8-1 freelance team from Gardena, CA. The Stingrays had an eight game winning streak coming into the game, but that was all erased as the Owls completed a stunning comeback to advance to the second round. The Owls quickly fell behind 22-0 after the first quarter, but Quentin Tedesco and Stephen McCaffery led the Owls to 47 unanswered points and a trip to face Coast Union. Quarterback Stephen McCaffery and offensive weapon Quentin Tedesco have been the catalysts for this year’s success. McCaffery has thrown for 1,807 yards, 22 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. McCaffery also has 104 carries for 657 yards and 11 rushing scores. Quentin Tedesco ran the ball 77 times for 562 yards and 11 rushings touchdowns, while posting 54 receptions for 931 yards and 10 reception touchdowns. Tedesco has also been a force on defense, recording three interceptions and 10 forced fumbles. Conrad Perry, the 6’0”, 215-pound senior, has been the backbone of both the offensive and defensive lines, creating holes for the running game and stifling both the pass and run on the defensive side of the ball. The Owls had a must-win contest at home versus the always-competitive Dunn Earwigs in order to gain a playoff bid. The back and forth game, which featured 12 lead changes and 130 total points was actually won on the defensive end. The Owls came up with a four-play goal line stand on the Earwigs final drive to secure a victory. Tedesco ran for 199 yards and tallied a total of six touchdowns to lead the Owls to a season high 66 points. In the second round of CIF, the Owls faced Coast Union in a rematch of the instant classic in Cambria in which the Owls won 50-48.
PHOTOS: TARA BROUCQSAULT and CARSON SHEVITZ (From top Left) Phoebe Madsen sets a ball to the outside. (Top Right) Nadia Belton rounds the corner past a Cate opponent. Quentin Tedesco and Angus Watters create a pocket for quarterback Stephen McCaffery to complete a pass. Lucie Hartmann sets up to return the shot over the net.
Girls Volleyball By PIERCE O’DONNELL Thanks to a record-setting regular season for the Varsity Girls Volleyball team, the Owls earned the overall No. 1 seed for the CIF-SS Division 4-A playoffs. With noteworthy regular season wins over Pacifica Christian, Viewpoint, St. Bonaventure, Santa Ynez, Mission Prep, Bishop Diego, and cross-town rival Cate, the Owls enter the playoffs with a strong 14-2 (7-1) record and on a six-game winning streak. After a close, five-game defeat at the hands of Rolling Hills Prep in the semifinals last year, the battle-tested Owls have licked their wounds and fought their way back into the playoffs once again. To close the regular season, the Owls seized a 12th straight Condor League Championship with a home win over Cate in a packed Merovick Gymnasium. “This win gives us a lot of momentum going forward. When our girls play
How many leagues are you apart of for the 2013 season?
with energy and have fun out there, it raises our level of play. We just need to harness that energy going forward into playoffs,” head coach Jim Alzina said. The Owls earned a first round bye with their top seed and take on Providence (Burbank) in a home contest on Thursday, Nov. 14. Laguna has taken home the CIF title only once in school history: under coach Jason Donelly, Alzina’s predecessor, in 2006. Since then, the Owls have made several trips to the finals and semi-finals under Alzina, but the title has eluded the Lady Owls.
Cross Country
By STEPHEN MCCAFFERY The Cross Country team finished the season in third place in the Condor League, earning them a spot in the CIF-Southern Section Playoffs. Led by the senior captain Nadia Belton and front-runner Cooper Farrell,
Four Two
One
*Data collected from members of the three leagues at Laguna Blanca.
How many hours per week do you spend on Fantasy Football?
Three
Seven
Ten
Eight Nine Five Six
Girls Tennis
By STEPHEN MCCAFFERY The No. 1 doubles team and senior captains of Girls Tennis team, Lucie and Margaret Hartmann qualified for the CIF-SS Individuals Girls Championships. The dynamic duo will play on Nov. 25 at Carpinteria High School. Their opponent is to be determined. Lucie and Margaret garnered a 27-6 regular season record. The twin-doubles team has been competing together for the tennis team since their freshman year and will be sincerely missed by the team for seasons to come. Teammate Jacqueline Berci said, “Lucie and Margaret are a great doubles team and fantastic leaders. We will miss them so much next year.”
Fantasy Football: Healthy Pastime or Addictive Reality? By SPENSER WYATT
Five
the Owls finished quite respectably in all of their league meets this season. The season began with the Ojai Invitational at Lake Casitas. The team also raced in a friendly meet with Cate and San Marcos and at the Mt. Sac Invitational. The season continued with three Condor League meets leading up to the Condor League Finals on Nov. 6, which determined which teams moved on to CIF. Thacher, Cate and Laguna, placing first, second, and third in the Finals, earned spots in the CIF-SS Playoffs. The CIF Preliminaries are on Nov. 16 at Mt. Sac College. On his expectations for CIF, secondyear coach David Silverander said, “the team is strong, and I think we’re getting stronger. We almost clipped Cate for second place in Condor League, so my expectations for CIF are high. We’ll run well and have a good time. We’ve also run this course already, which should help us out.” During the regular season, Cooper Farrell led the boys’ heat with finishes of 24th, fifth, second, and first. Sophomores Mikey Hawker, Bill Mortensen, and Kylan Tyng followed Cooper in the boys’ heat. Thinking back on the season and forward to CIF, Cooper said, “our season was great. The team consistently placed in the top three of seven schools, and we collectively improved our times throughout the year. I far surpassed my season goal of running a sub-17 minute three miles with a 16:35 at Midland. I am looking forward to CIF, but with so many schools, you really just have to hope you’re one hundred percent and try to place as high as possible.”
It’s Monday night, you have an essay to write, but your fantasy football team is down by 20 points, and you have your quarterback left to play. The decision is really quite simple: You procrastinate on your paper and watch “Monday Night Football,”0 while rooting on your ‘fake’ football team. It’s 8:45 p.m. The paper has still not been worked on, but you’re only losing by nine points and the first half isn’t even over yet. The paper, at this point, is in the deepest part of your mind, behind, of course, fantasy football, perhaps the dishes and possibly a shower. The first half comes to a close. You’re feeling good. A win here and your into the playoffs, which seems like an inevitability at this point. There’s no way to really describe the power that fantasy football possesses. It consumes people. It is more important to me than school, birthdays, family gatherings and, possibly, even my health. Fantasy football allows sports fans to compete for much more than just money. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association more than $1.18 billion changes hands each year in just fantasy football poolswinning can mean even more. Winning can lead to glory and bragging rights for the following year with your schoolmates, coworkers and family.
The loser, on the other hand, might have to face a week of unappealing clothing, a public shaming or, in the most dedicated of leagues, a tattoo forever marking their ineptitude at fantasy football. The risk-reward experience culminates for a highintensity season based off of the National Football League’s regular season. There are dozens of different ways that leagues and rosters can be created so that
You fall to your knees and cry. Your season is over. each league is unique and perfect for the competitors. A standard league would include one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, a kicker and a team defense. All teams would also include a bench consisting of a medley of all of the positions. Each week you are pitted in a fierce match up versus another member of the league. Points are scored based on how well your players do in real life. The team with more points each week wins the match up. Seems simple, right? Well, once you delve into the waiver wire, trading, bye weeks and injuries, it becomes more of managerial game that involves skill, rather than a pick-and-pray approach.
There are two minutes left in the game. You are down by a single point, and your quarterback has driven the ball right down to the opponent’s five-yard line. All the quarterback needs to do is score a touchdown and you win the match up and head to the playoffs. You already have the boastful text message queued up and ready to send to your unfortunate opponent. Inopportunely, your quarterback fumbles the ball while trying to run in for the score, to make it worse, the ball just slipped out of his hands as he was a yard away from a score. You fall to your knees and cry. Your season is over. One more year until next season. One more year of gloating from the league champion. One more year of sleepless nights thinking of what could have been. Junior Jack Kinsler said, “Life is about priorities, or, shall I say, priority. For fantasy football, in all it’s greatness, cannot be grouped together with things such as: school, family, music, and oxygen. The magical rush it provides for 17 weeks a year is without a doubt my most treasured activity. The camaraderie and friendly gamesmanship is something I will never take for granted. Without the league I would be a mere mortal, but with it, I stand amongst the greats of the heavens. I am able to go toe to toe with Zeus and Poseidon on any given day and win.”
Dance Is a Sport: A Sports Editorial By ALLISON LEWIS TOWBES
Let’s try that one more time. I wiped the sweat from my forehead, walked back to the corner of the room and took my preparation, fully aware of the fact that one more time meant several more tries. I will pirouette until it is perfect, and who knows how long that could take. At the end of a dance class, I hobble to my car, muscles aching, bruises already beginning to bloom on my knees. As a dancer, it is baffling to me how anyone could think that dance is not a sport? We practice, we condition, we sweat, we push ourselves out of our comfort zones in an intensely active setting. Yet, 56.7 percent of our student body believes that dance is not a sport (the majority of whom are males). One of the biggest assertions disputing dance’s status as a sport is that dance is an art. An art, critics insist, is biased. It is founded on opinion. It can be judged, but any numerical score given is based on an individual’s viewpoint. All of this is true. Dance is an art, but nowhere in the great rule book of life does it say that an art cannot also be a sport. Figure skating, gymnastics, TaeKwan-Do – all of these are sports that are also considered “arts.” Ask any athlete: they’ll tell you that making the basket or scoring the goal is an art form in and of itself. Another argument against dance being a sport is that even at it’s highest level, it can be participated in on a non-competitive level. This reasoning depends on what your definition of “competition” is (anyone who’s watched “Black Swan”
Sports
understands the amount of internal conflict within a ballet corpse). To satisfy traditionalists, let’s say that to be competitive, there must be a clear winner or loser. Dance can be performed in a competitive setting– al á “Dance Moms” – or it can be done in a relaxed setting, like a barre class or performance troupe. Under this definition of competition, dance should fall under the same category of sports that are also hobbies, like running, biking and golf. Runners, bikers and golfers are all considered athletes, so dancers should be too. Dance is also not a gender-biased activity, unlike other sports. This side-note only proves it’s progressiveness. To the naive eye, a dancer probably looks weaker than most other athletes. Again, this is a misinterpretation: a dancer’s muscles may not ripple like a football player’s or pro-wrestler’s, but their strength is very real. According to the Centre for Dance Nutrition, a professional, 120-pound dancer burns between 2,000 and 3,000 calories in five to seven hours of rehearsal. By comparison, the professional football player, who weights an average of 252 pounds, burns “2,000 to 3,000 calories on the field in doublesession practices,” said journalist Jamie Bellavance in a 2006 Men’s Health Magazine article. Like any other athletic endeavor, dance has a fan base. Now, this fan base may not be as large or as vocal as another fan base, but they are there,
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November 22, 2013
GRAPHIC: LUISA CAMERON and they are passionate: after a recent performance of State Street Ballet’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” I stood in the lobby of the Granada, listening as a group of young people in sports coats and dresses argue about the lead’s extension and the emotional depth of the choreography. For those who say that dance is not a team sport, I’d like to inform you otherwise: the girls I dance with at my studio are my friends and my teammates. We work together; I trust them to do their jobs on stage and in rehearsal, and they trust me to do the same. We support each other, both literally and figuratively. If we aren’t a team, I don’t know what is. “I think dance is a sport because of
the obvious skill level involved with flexibility and agility and so on and because of the competitive nature,” said Mr. Mike Biermann, the Laguna Blanca Athletic Director. Dance may not be about winning a gold medal or holding the highest title. At the end of the day it is, however, about being the best you can be, feeling self-accomplishment and pride. A dancer is an artist and an athlete; just because he or she wears a tutu rather than shoulder pads shouldn’t limit him or her from being the latter. After all, isn’t football really just a bunch of guys spending months rehearsing for the big day, putting on a costume, and performing what they’ve practiced?
The Redskins: A Culture Clouded by Controversy
PHOTO: SEA OTTER REGATTA
THE UPWIND LEG: The Laguna Blanca Sailing Team competes at the 2012 Sea Otter Regatta hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club.
The Laguna Blanca Sailing Team By CARSON SHEVITZ Now that the past team captain, Cassidy Shevitz ’13, has graduated, the Laguna Blanca Sailing team is searching for more students interested in joining. Sailing counts as an option for Individual Physical Education at Laguna Blanca. Students can sail during the fall, winter or spring seasons (or during all three). This year the team includes Cuyler Zimmerman ’14, Carson Shevitz ’16 and Cameron Morello ’16. The squad needs at least four students to make an official team for this year. The sailing team is looking for students between eighth and 12th grade to join, or at least come to a few of their practices to experience the sailing atmosphere. Experience is not necessary. Laguna practices with two other local schools, Santa Barbara High School and Dos Pueblos High School,
weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since the Laguna Sailing Team was reinstated in 2009, all five of the graduated sailing members have gone on to sail for the varsity sailing team at his or her college. These sailors include Carly Shevitz ’10, College of Charleston Varsity Sailing Team; Jake Bartlein ’11, Roger Williams Sailing Team; Savanna Brown ’12, Boston College Varsity Sailing Team; Tucker Atterbury ’12, Roger Williams Varsity Sailing Team; and Cassidy Shevitz ’13, College of Charleston Varsity Sailing Team. Carly Shevitz ’10 is a member on the U.S. Sailing Sperry-Topsider Olympic Sailing Team. The team travels to different venues around California to race against about 65 high schools. The Sailing Team encourages you to come to one of its practices to get a feeling of why sailing is a very enjoyable lifetime sport.
By PIERCE O’DONNELL The Washington Redskins are one change such as a new name will generof the most decorated football teams ate revenue and give the team a new in all of the National Football League energy,” said junior Ethan Katnic. (NFL). The steadfast team and passionate In its 77 years in Washington, the fans have fought the critics strongly organization has totaled 12 Divisional up until now, stressing that the name Championships, five Conference Titles is not meant to demean Native Ameriand five NFL Championships. cans but, rather, to praise them as a However, controversy over the Redsymbol of courage. skins provocative name now hovers “I admire the Redskins’ name. I over the team’s decades of glory and think it stands for bravery, courage, success. and a stalwart spirit, and I see no The team was supposedly named reason why we shouldn’t continue to after the Sioux Native American head use it,” said former owner Jack Kent coach Lone Star Dietz and the abunCooke, in response to the media. dance of Native American players on “The organization is not trying the team. to offend anyone. In fact, they are Many criticize the organization’s representing the name with pride name and logo of a “Redskin” for and respect. I see no reason why they portraying demeaning stereotypes of should cease to do so,” said sophoNative Americans. more Robert Estrada. The team stated that the Redskins Although the organization has justiname and the team logo stand for fied what the name represents, many bravery and courage and sought no still argue that ‘Redskin’ is still a racist reason to change it. epithet and contributes to ethnic However, as media and political stereotyping. pressure on the organization inRegardless, Redskins’ owner Daniel creased, the team is finally moving Snyder has decided that the criticism’s towards a name change. prejudicial effect on the team outEven President Obama has thrown weighs even the name’s sentimental in his two cents stating that the team value. should “consider changing the name.” It is unlikely, however, that a name Although nothing has been finalized, change will be made anytime soon as the owner openly said that a name the organization is already dealing change is being discussed. with a struggling start of the season “If I was the owner I would defiand various in-season duties. nitely change the name. [‘Redskins’] is It is very probable that after the seadefinitely a racist term and not really son ends, a name change for the now a great team name anyway. Plus, a big Washington Redskins will ensue.
Featured Athletes of the Issue
Cross Country
Girls Volleyball
Girls Tennis
Football
Girls Volleyball
Michael Hawker
Lexi Yabsley
Juliana Ozur
Conrad Perry
Kimberly Crickette
“Mikey is arguably the hardest working player on the team. He goes above and beyond what he is asked to do.” – Connor Curran
“Lexi is a great all-around volleyball player for our team. She not only plays hard on the court, but she also is very supportive of all of her teammates.” – Joan Curran
“Juliana is a very hardworking and dedicated player on our team. Juliana was not only a great leader for the team but also a great leader for the matches.” – Annabelle Sorensen
“Conrad works the hardest out of all of us on the team. He is also the most committed player on our team. Conrad has a huge amount of heart and is a fantastic center.” – Christian Fowler
“As a freshman, I really look up to Kimmy because she is a great team player and always brings an unparalleled energy to our games.” – Holly Tobias
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Feature
November 22, 2013
Some Fiddle, Some Twitch, Others Doodle
By KIMMY CRICKETTE In times of boredom, we resort to sketching in the margins of our notes, agendas or handouts. But what do these doodles mean? What do they say about us? Studies have shown that a person’s doodles can be highly indicative of his or her personality. Repeated marks or images imply precision and patience, whereas wavy lines or random marks tend to suggest a more energetic or impatient personality. The amount of pressure on paper when doodling is also used to judge personality. Dark marks point to stubborn, strong personalities; medium marks usually demonstrate confidence and balance, and light marks are indicative of a sensitive, openminded person. According to academic specialists Ms. Rose Steeber and Mr. James Tur, recent studies show that doodling has been connected to an increase in focus due to the firing of neurons when the hand is in motion. However, there is a fine line between doodling as a concentration aid for focus and when it becomes a distraction. Finding the balance between the two is key to maximizing one’s attention. (To view more student doodles, check out www.thefourthestate.net)
Test Taking Strategies By BILL MORTENSEN
ART: KELA JOHNSON
1. What is the best way to manage your time when studying for a test? a. Study in 25 minute intervals with 5 minute breaks b. Study for 45 minutes at a time with 15 minute breaks in between c. Study for 90 minutes at a time with 10 minute breaks d. Study all night before the test with no breaks 2. How should you review material before a test? a. Re-read all the material from the unit you are taking the test on b. Go online and look at different sources c. Review what is most important d. Quiz yourself on the material and find your weak spots 3. If you do not know the answer to a multiple choice test question, what should you do? a. Guess b. Circle C c. Use the process of elimination d. Skip the question and move on to one that you know
By KELA JOHNSON
Through dreaming, we can access valuable information that lies within our subconscious. Dreams are short films that our subconscious directs, casts, and pro4. What is the most important thing to do before answering a question? duces, all in a matter of seconds, with the sole purpose of providing us with a. Read all of the directions carefully the insights we need exactly when we b. Make sure that you have enough time to answer the question need them. c. Make sure it is the easiest question left on the test Sometimes dreams convey these d. Make sure that you know how to answer the question messages in cryptic or disturbing 5. What is the best thing to do the night before the test? ways, but dream interpretation allows a. Party us to decipher them and use them to b. Stay up late studying our advantage. c. Give your brain a rest and not study I have been recording and interpretd. Get a good night’s rest after an hour or two of studying ing my dreams for a few years, and I have found that being more aware of 6. How should you go about answering questions? my subconscious has allowed me to a. Answer the easiest questions first feel more in control of my waking life. b. Answer the highest point value questions first Dream interpretation is a projective c. Go in the order that the teacher put them process, which means that it is often d. Work backwards from the end of the test easier to interpret others’ dreams than 7. How long in advance should you study for a test? it is to interpret our own dreams. a. A week When I interpret someone else’s b. As soon as the teacher announces it dream, I use the “I voice” because I c. A day am explaining my own version of the d. In your free period before the test dream. You will know if my interpretation 8. How much should you include in a short answer question? is accurate by whether or not you have a. Everything you know about the topic an “a-ha” feeling as you read it. b. Enough to answer the question Even if my interpretation doesn’t c. Enough to get half credit feel quite right, you can rest assured d. The answer and an explanation of your answer that every dream comes in the service of health and wholeness.
Dream One: I have this recurring dream that I am going into water with my phone. My friend is always watching and every time she says the same four words, “Wait! No! Please don’t!” What does this mean? I just want to know. Plus, if this matters, I’m always wearing a brownish green shirt. In my version of the dream, I would connect wading into water with a baptism, which implies a new beginning or an initiation. Submerging my phone in water could signify a desire to eliminate distractions or things that distance me from others. Because all the characters that appear in my dreams represent parts of myself, my friend represents the characteristics of myself that remind me of her. This part of myself may be afraid to open up to others and wants to stay the same rather than beginning anew. The fact that this is a recurring dream points out that some important aspects of my life are exactly the same as they were the last time I had the dream; in other words, I haven’t had this initiation yet. But things are looking up for me because colors do have significance in dreams. Greenishbrown may portend travel, news from afar and a lucky influx of money.
Answers: b., d., c., a., d., a., b., d.
Left Brain vs. Right Brain
The left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body. This means that it controls the muscles located on the right, and it sends and receives messages to and from the right side of the body, and vice versa for the right side of the brain. In addition, the left side also houses the speech and language areas of the brain, while the right hemisphere is responsible for spatial abilities, music, facial recognition, and visual imagery.
Left Brain
By KAYLEE STRACHAN
Right Brain
Constantly monitors our sequential, ongoing behavior Responsible for awareness of time, sequence, details, and order Responsible for auditory receptive and verbal expressive strengths Specializes in words, logic, analytical thinking, reading, and writing Responsible for boundaries and knowing right from wrong Knows and respects rules and deadlines First sees details, then puts together the big picture Auditory learners Prefer schedules and rules
Alerts us to novelty; tells us when someone is lying or making a joke Specializes in understanding the whole picture Specializes in music, art, visualspatial and/or visual-motor activities Helps us form mental images when we read and/or converse Responsible for intuitive and emotional responses. Helps us to form and maintain relationships Swayed by feelings Intuitive and curious Don’t prioritize as well Visual learners
54.5%
33.8%
of students who took the poll were left brained
of students who took the poll were right brained
ART: LUISA CAMERON
Feature
November 22, 2013
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Three Special Pets and the People Who Care for Them By MACKENNA CONNOR
Assistant to the Head of School Ms. Marie Gensler and Toby
Latin Teacher Ms. Rose Steeber and Cicciu
History Teacher Mr. Kevin Shertzer and Scooter
Q: What is your tortoise’s name? A: His name is Toby. Q: What kind of tortoise is he? A: He’s an African Spurred. Q: How long have you had your tortoise? A: I’ve only had him for a year, but my older sister had him for ten years prior. She moved up to near Seattle and it’s too cold for him up there so she dropped him off at my house. So he’s 11 years old. Q: What do you typically do with your tortoise? A: He mostly just grazes and hangs out in the backyard all day, then he comes in and sleeps in my house at night... On the weekends I get him out and take him on a walk in the neighborhood. Q: Do you have any stories about your tortoise? A: He likes to rearrange the patio furniture, so anything that is on the patio or in my backyard. He moves all the plants around, he moves all the patio furniture around, he’s very stubborn. He just mostly likes to be warm so anytime that he can be next to the heater he likes to sit under the dryer vent outside where the laundry room is.
Q: What is your dog’s name? A: His name is Cicciu. Q: What breed is your dog? A: He might be an Akita mix but we’re not sure because he’s a rescue. Q: What do you typically do with your dog? A: We walk on the beach... we go on a lot of walks together. I walk him about twice a day. We walk on East Beach. We go rabbit hunting. He likes to chase rabbits but he’s too slow so he never catches them. It’s a good way to tire him out. Q: Do you have any stories about Cicciu? A: Every single day he goes over to my neighbor Jordan’s house because he has a little girlfriend there... He goes over on his own. He climbs under the wire and everything and he goes... My neighbor calls it Cicciu going to work... So she thought it would be funny to get a picture of Cicciu with the glasses on. When I brought him home from the pound and I’d had him for just two days, he’d been neutered and had stitches and wasn’t supposed to run, but he took off after seeing three deer. I thought I’d lost him, but he knew the way home.
Q: What is your snake’s name? A: I have two, one is named Scooter and one is named Kaiser Wilhelm III. Q: What kind of snakes are they? A: One’s a bald python and one’s an Okeetee corn snake. Q: What do you feed them? A: Rats, one of them eats frozen and the other one would eat live but she’s blind so I have to do the deed. Q: Do you have any stories about them? A: It’s amazing to me that everyone’s afraid of snakes they’ve got this reputation of being slimy and they’re not, of being mean and they’re not… I’ve been bitten by them; each once, both my fault. Of course it didn’t hurt because their teeth are really tiny but the first time I got bit by Scooter she surprised me because I’d had her for six years before that... Both of [my snakes] are rescues, kind of... one I got from a couple of friends of mine who were basically abusing it and killing it and I was afraid of them when I first got them but they’re cool, they’re beautiful.
iPhone 5c a Failure or Not?
By EMILY POWERS
By HARRISON KERDMAN Some see the launch of Apple’s newest phone, the iPhone 5c as a failure while others deem it a success. Apple launched two new phones in recent months: the 5s and the 5c. According to Apple, the 5s is “purposefully imagined and precision crafted.” It’s an expensive phone that is considered to be better than the others of the 5-generation, including the 5c. “It’s not just a product of what’s technologically possible. But what’s technologically useful.” The 5c, on the other hand, is an inexpensive iPhone that lacks the quality of the 5 series iPhones especially the 5s. “There are no improvements, Apple basically made a plastic 4s,” said freshman Henry Ferrell. The iPhone 5c was created in part to bridge the market especially overseas and to provide the iPhone technology to those who want to have a phone for less than $800. Even though the 5c is less expensive, in the first week of its launch it was outsold by its counterpart in a 1:3
ratio. “Now, one month postlaunch, the iPhone 5c has been steadily gaining traction,” said John Koetsier Recently, Apple has halved the production of the 5c from 300,000 units per day to 150,000 units per day, proving that the 5c is not selling as much as they hoped it would. However, people are reporting that the 5c is meeting expectations, and that the low sales of the 5c are not necessarily bad. The 5s is Apple’s most profitable product. During a recent Apple event in which the highly anticipated iPad Air was revealed, Apple surprised many by trying to gain ground against their rival Microsoft in a world of spreadsheets and word-processing programs. They made iWork, a set of applications such as Pages, Keynote,
Numbers, iMovie, and iPhoto, free to anyone who bought a new computer or mobile device. Each of these apps used to cost $10 each. Apple even threw in the newest operating system, Mavericks. In this new attempt to progress in the front of multi-tasking, which seems nearly impossible with an opponent such as Microsoft, English teacher Dr. Charles Donelan said, “It’s going to be hard for Apple to stay as dominant as they have been, unless they release a neverbefore-thought-of product in the next few years.” Overall, the public was expecting a “cheap iPhone,” but they got an iPhone that was not very well made and targeted at an oversees market.
PostSecret a Place to Confess and Connect
A growing online community where posting secrets brings people together to inspire, to grieve, or to celebrate. By EMILY POWERS
Some people bottle their secrets, some people spread secrets, and others have no filter. But some people take their deepest, darkest secrets and turn them into something beautiful. PostSecret is a an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a creative homemade postcard. The PostSecret community, a true art form, is growing. The secret postcards are mailed to a P.O. Box where they are scanned and posted on the blog. Sure, this sounds like a great idea, but some of you are probably wondering, “What’s the point?” The point is that letting secrets out is empowering, not only to the person writing them down and letting go of the secret, but also to a potential reader, who might be holding on to a similar secret or burden. Knowing that they’re not alone can be a relief.
The PostSecret community is built from acceptance. The secrets range from silly white lies to intense sob stories, but regardless of what somebody sends in, the key is not to judge. Launched in October 2007 by founder Frank Warren has a policy to provide anonymity but when a possible murder confession was sent in, the PostSecret team felt obligated to look into it and report it to detectives. The card said, “she dumped me, but really, I dumped her (body).” “Either a really bad person killed somebody or a less bad but also bad person is making a joke and wasting time claiming that they killed somebody,” Larson said. “Either way, it’s bad. But given the choice … I hope it’s a hoax.” “I hope people judge Post Secret by the whole project, not just one card,” Warren said.
It was started as an experimental website, posting 10 secrets every Sunday to the site. The site quickly gained underground popularity. Every Sunday the site is refreshed and new secrets are posted. Warren’s book, “PostSecret Confessions on Life Death and God” is a number one New York Times best-seller. The are PostSecret events in which Warren travels the world to share the inspiring funny stories behind the secrets. Post Secret isn’t entirely mainstream yet because there isn’t advertising. “I’ve never heard of Post Secret before but it sounds cool,” said sophomore Valeria Rodriguez. Fame is not what PostSecret is aiming for though. Post Secret is an outlet that is anonymous, creative and holds a unique sense of community through artistic secrets.
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November 22, 2013
A&E
Meet the Cast of
By KIMMY CRICKETTE
“Playing a guy is really hard, but it was fun.” -Bea Tolan
“The “Brace character yourselves, was “I’ve never Parris is a difficult, but played a man paranoid it worked before, so it was preacher.” out in the difficult to be -Mathew end and was a convincing Goldsholl great.” man.” -Travis -Erica Keane Smillie
“[Proctor] is a real stoical guy” -John Puzder
“[Mary] is a fun character to play. I’ve done plays before but this is my first high school play.” -Holly Tobias
“I feel like this cast has really bonded and it’s been a pleasure working with them.” -Mia Chavez “The Crucible,” directed by drama instructor Kate Bergstrom, played Nov. 14 through Nov. 16. This play imitated the events of the McCarthy Era through the events of the Salem witch trials. Amidst illicit affairs and pious New England standards, the play delivered equal parts scandal and talent with a cast consisting of both Middle and Upper School students, as well as faculty guest appearances by Mr. Blake Dorfman and Ms. Martha Elliott. Adding to the intrigue, Ruston Amphitheater hosted the first act of the play to portray the rural environment of the Puritan households. The second act brought the audience inside Spaudling Auditorium to emphasize the structured atmosphere of the courtroom.
Playlist of PumpUp Music By PIERCE O’DONNELL & MARGARET LAZAROVITS
“Higher Ground” by Tngnt Conrad Perry Football Co-Captain
“Play Hard” by David Guetta Grace Woolf Varsity Girls Volleyball CoCaptain
“Put the Gun Down” by ZZ Ward Margaret Hartmann Varsity Girls Tennis Co-Captain
“Stronger” by Trust Company Andrew Vignolo Football Co-Captain
“Crave You (Adventure Club Remix)” by Flight Facilities Chloë Brown JV White Girls Volleyball CoCaptain
“All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled Sammi Schurmer JV Blue Girls Volleyball CoCaptain
“I’m not going to say that playing Abigail has been fun, but getting to tap into her desperation has been really fantastic.” -Allison Lewis
PHOTO: CARSON SHEVITZ
The Actors
Allison Lewis Towbes as Abigail Williams John Puzder as John Proctor Mia Chavez as Elizabeth Proctor Bea Tolan as Reverend John Hale Erica Keane as Deputy Governor Danforth Travis Smilie as Judge Hawthorn Mathew Goldsholl as Reverend Parris Will Bartholomew as Giles Corey Valeria Rodriguez as Ann Putnam Maddy Lazarovits as Tituba Holly Tobias as Mary Warren Demari Braly as Rebecca Nurse Margaret Lazarovits as Betty Parris Fanny Cameron as Susanna Walcott
Aura Carlson as Mercy Lewis Brooklyn Kinsler as Fanny Mr. Blake Dorfman as Ezekiel Cheever Ms. Martha Elliott as Sarah Good
The Crew
Director: Ms. Kate Bergstrom Assistant Director/Stage Manager: Margaret Lazarovits Technical Director: Conner Warren Costume Designer: Ms. Rose Ary Set Builder: Mr. Chris Johnson Set Design Assistants: Luisa Cameron, Kela Johnson and Lexi Yabsley Musical Assistance: Michael Kohan Poster and Program Design: Ms. Delphine Anaya
The Newest Trend: Binge Television Watching By MARGARET LAZAROVITS It’s the newest trend. All your friends are doing it. Some say it’s hazardous to your health, but you don’t care. It feels good. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t stop hitting that “Play Next Episode” button. Television binging is quite addicting to us millennials, those born between the years 1980 and 2001, and television producers are acutely aware of it. “We know that our audience is really into binge-watching. So they’ll watch multiple episodes in a row,” said Kent Reese, who runs scheduling and marketing for the channel Pivot, which specifically targets millennials. The night of the channel’s launch, Pivot released six episodes in a row of their show “Please Like Me,” which is “often described as a gay, Australian version of ‘Girls’,” according to NPR interviewer Neda Ulaby. “This is our opportunity, through our programming, to express back to them that we get it, and that we are listening; and that we want them to consume content from us in the same way they’re doing it in other places,” said Reese in his interview with Ulaby. It’s obvious what the “other places” are. David Thorburn, an MIT professor who studies media in transition, says that his students won’t watch Pivot because they probably don’t own TVs, or even pay for cable. They get their entertainment through Netflix or Hulu on their phone or computer. “Maybe they should just look to the new technologies, and stop pretending that the older one will be helpful to them,” said Thorburn. But before we look ahead, let’s trace the TV binge back to its origins with, arguably, the first TV show to garner a cult following. The Sopranos. As millennials, many of us probably don’t remember when this show first aired in 1999, but our parents’ generation loved it. Since then, “TV viewers have fallen hard for the genre that Vincent Canby once dubbed the ‘megamovie’,”said Virginia Heffernan, writer for Yahoo News. Megamovie is not an exaggeration in the slightest. TV as we know it has undergone a renaissance, rebirthed with larger budgets, creative writing and more. “I think right now, television is having its second Golden Age,” Rob
Reiner said in his interview for “Sunday Morning.” “I mean, back in the 50s, that was the first time, the birth of television. And right now, there are things happening on television that are far beyond anything that you see even in movies.” Those Hollywood “rejects” have found refuge on the silver screen and have become our beloved, binge-worthy shows. TV has grown up, according to “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston. And we love our new mature shows. So much so that it seems that we form relationships with our binge shows. Like Maggie Edinger, 26, who “is happy and content in her crimefighting bubble” with “Law & Order”, said Leanne Italie in her article “How Binge-Watching Is Changing TV: Viewers Date Their Shows.” Todd Yellin, VP of product innovations at Netflix, admits to “creat[ing] matches, just like they are. And…creat[ing] love, just like they do,” in Italie’s article. The “they” are dating websites. And Yellin’s version of marriage? “When [viewers] get really hooked on a great TV show on Netflix.”
There may even be scientific evidence to why we binge. Dr. Laura Berman, a sex and relationship expert, explains that, in a new relationship, our dopamine, or addiction, centers are “firing like crazy.” This influx of dopamine may be why we derive so much pleasure from settling down with a hot cup of cocoa and our newest on-screen sweetheart. But while we’re settling down, our brains don’t turn off. In fact, argues Heffernan, “you turn critic, leaning into a laptop, popping on Twitter, neurons firing, racing to make original connections and anticipate themes and plot.” The anticipation for the next episode, the next scene, the next witty line keeps us alert and invested. Heffernan even offers a suggestion to “synchronize binge TV” with a friend. Getting on that emotional rollercoaster with someone by your side to gush and freak out to makes the ride all the more exhilarating. And once it’s all over, you’ll be itching for your next fix of quality television.
6 Shows to Binge-watch 1.“Firefly” created by Joss Wedon (Sci-Fi, Netflix) 2. “Community” created by Dan Harmon (Comedy, Hulu) 3. “The X Files” created by Chris Carter (Sci-Fi, Hulu) 4. “Orange is the New Black” created by Jenji Kohan (Drama, Netflix) 5. “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer” created by Joss Wedon (Sci-Fi, Netflix) 6.“Lost” created by J.J. Abrams (Drama, Netflix)
ART: LUISA CAMERON
Lifestyle
November 22, 2013
Cooler Days Mean Layering for Fashion
By GRACE WOOLF ooler temperatures are approaching our sunny Santa Barbara coastline, and it’s time to start pulling out the scarves and knit caps. Fashion trends this fall and winter are all about prints, layering, eye-catching shoes and bold colors. Shoes: Little booties have become the rave. They are a type of shoe that can be made casual or dressy. Booties are the go-to shoe because of their versatility and comfort in the colder months. Funky sneakers have also become very popular. Funky meaning lots of crazy patterns or different heights. Colors: Color blocking is making a come-back. The colors and styles of military is on the rise again. Designers incorporate military style into their color blocking by using shades of
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green, white, navy and maroon. Dark shades of red is also a go-to color for the season. Red can be used as the accent color to any outfit, in the form of a bag or pair of heels. According to senior Michael Reyes “dark colors are good for fall.” Hats: Hats are the best fall accessory because they are practical and stylish. Any type of hat will be cute this fall, from baseball caps to knit beanies or fedoras. Prints: Prints are huge this fall. Many designers are using prints such as leopard and plaid. Prints are definitely for the most daring fashionistas and can always add some spice to an outfit. Men’s wear prints like hound’s-tooth are also big in women’s fashion. Sweaters: Turtle necks are back.
This time, turtle neck sweaters have a much more sophisticated edge. Turtle necks are great sweaters because they are so comfy and warm. The best way to wear them is over some jeans and a cute bootie. Must Haves: For fall, every girl needs a large cashmere wrap that can be thrown over any outfit. Designers, like Vince, have mastered the perfect chunky sweater that is perfect for fall. Sweaters are perfect to throw over any type of pant or skirt with tights. Chunky knits are trending right now. “The best thing about fall is cashmere, Uggs and lots of hugs,” said junior Christian Kahmann. Where to Shop: Nordstrom in Paseo Nuevo has a great selection of Vince. They have a multitude Vince’s big cashmere and wool sweaters and
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PHOTOS: GRACE WOOLF
tons of fall blazers. Nordstrom’s also has a wide selection of booties. Saks always keeps current with trends. At Marshalls you can also find Vince items. Junior Olivia McGovern said she is looking forward to the maroon and plum colors. “I am excited for lots of plaid, ‘Clueless’ is making a comeback.” “Clueless” is probably the best way to describe this coming season because, in the movie, the style was military with lots of patterns and deep colors. Students are excited for fall fashion. “I love the sweaters, boots, scarfs and layering. Even though we are in Santa Barbara, I love being warm and cozy in fall clothes when it’s cold outside,” sophomore Jacqueline Berci said.
Going Gluten Free: Life in the Wheat-Free World?
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By JACQUELINE BERCI
oing gluten free seems to be an increasingly popular term, but most people aren’t clear what it means exactly. Going gluten free means committing to a diet without the protein gluten; grains like rye, barley, and wheat all contain gluten. It may not seem too hard to cut those grains out of your diet, but gluten makes its way into the majority of processed foods today. Unless labeled gluten-free, random foods such as candies, salad dressings, french fries and even soy sauce generally contain gluten. Most commonly, people go gluten-free to treat celiac disease, a condition where gluten causes inflammation in one’s small intestines. However, going gluten-free is becoming increasingly popular and for more than people with health restrictions. “For almost a year and half, I have been gluten-free for health reasons. I read a book, “Wheat Belly”, from a cardiologist about what has happened to wheat in the past 30 years. I read this book, and it made me want to be glutenfree,” said math instructor Isabella Santos. Around one percent of the world’s population suffers from celiac disease; however, many more people claim that going gluten free just makes them feel better overall. Although this theory lacks direct scientific proof, some studies have found that people tend to feel better when they cut gluten from their diet. “Right now it doesn’t feel any different, but in the first two or three months, you do feel it. You get sort of addicted to food when you are eating a lot of processed foods and you feel heavy, being gluten-free forces you to eat different foods,” said Ms. Santos.
“If a person has a choice between eating wheat and not eating wheat, then for most people, avoiding wheat would be ideal,” said chiropractor Thomas O’Bryan in a New York Times article. Stars such as Victoria Beckham, Miley Cyrus, Gwyneth Paltrow and Novak Djokovic boast going gluten free, consumers, who have increased the market of gluten free foods to $4.4 billion according to Packaged Stats, must eventually learn that going gluten free does not encourage weight loss. A gluten free diet is only healthy if you replace the fiber, vitamins and minerals one would normally get from grains in a healthy way. Because most glutenfree products are combined through fattier foods such as oil, butter and eggs, going gluten free does not generally lead to weight loss. Although gluten-free advocates will say it is worth it, for some it is asking too much to pass up on that perfect doughnut to go with your morning coffee or piece of bread that is placed in front of you at restaurants. As senior Allie Towbes, who has been gluten-free for a 15 months, said, “it was really hard going off of gluten, and I really didn’t want to, and some days all I want is lasagna, but I have been able to find a lot of really delicious gluten free things. Just the other day a friend made me a gluten-free gingerbread peach tart, and it was maybe the best thing I’ve ever tasted!” Trying a gluten free diet is easier with stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Vons, and Albertsons carrying a wide variety of gluten free items.
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GRAPHICS: LUISA CAMERON
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Nov. 22
Thanksgiving Day
Dec. 4
Receive an ugly knitted sweater from your aunt Dec. 11
Pick up your peppermint mocha Dec. 18
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Nov. 26
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Dec. 2
Dec. 3
Set up your Hannukah guest rooms begins for the invasion of relatives
Thanksgiving Break begins Nov. 28
November 22, 2013
Nov. 29
Black Friday
Dec. 5
Hannukah ends (No more latkes) Dec.12
Watch ABC’s Holiday Movie of the night Dec. 20
Tackle Christmas cuties with Break mistletoe in begins hand
Nov. 30
Dec. 1
Snack on Set your the Turkey advent Day calenders leftovers
Back to school
Complain about the “cold” California winter
Dec. 7
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Dec. 10
Dec. 8
Pray for snow in Santa Barbara
Bowl selection day
Break out your UGG boots if you haven’t already
Dec. 14
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Cry beBuy your cause you christmas have to take tree the ACT Dec.21
Peeking at presents is okay...
Dec. 24
Treat yourself to some eggnog
Find your “Elf" DVD
You should buy your mom a present... tomorrow Dec. 17
Start your mental winter break
Dec. 25
Hide your envy over who gets more presents
ART: KELA JOHNSON DESIGN: ALLISON LEWIS TOWBES and LUISA CAMERON